Biotechnology UK CU- Biomarkers combined with modern technologies have been key components in the progress of biotechnology.
The Imperial College London, which developed an AI facilitated optical fiber sensory device, which is capable of quantifying crucial biomarkers of traumatic brain injury simultaneously.
The findings from studies conducted on animal brain tissues indicate the possibility of assisting medical professionals to better track the progression of disease and patients, which could bring about clinical trials.
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a violent blow to the head, often lead to issues with concentration, memory and analytical skills. The monitoring of TBI generally require intracranial probes (insertion of a device) which track the biomarkers, such as pressure or oxygen within the brain. Probes are usually limited to monitoring a single biomarker at a time and others are capable of tracking several biomarkers requiring several probes at once, which can lead to more tissue damage or infection.
Scientists at Imperial hope to tackle this with a newly designed monitoring device that combines the capability of tracking 4 biomarkers at once, using machine learning algorithms that analyze prior data to forecast biomarker concentrations from data collections in real time. The successful optimization of this procedure for humans can pave the way to effectively track TBI.
Dr Yubing Hu, at Imperial’s Department of Chemical Engineering who led the study said “This is a promising breakthrough. Our promising results indicate both accurate biomarker monitoring and precise predictions of injury progression which, after further development, could help clinicians monitor both patients’ brain health and response to treatment.”
The new device consists of flexible silica-based optical fiber, that when probed into brain tissue, tracks the cerebrospinal fluid. The tip of the fiber has 4 sensing films which can monitor and quantify the levels of each biomarker within the cerebrospinal fluid.
